Israel Warns EU of Emerging Gaza Humanitarian Disaster

The streets of some Gaza neighborhoods are completely flooded with raw sewage, so that pedestrians have no way to go but through the muck. The Hamas government has been sinking Gaza into a quagmire of violence, blackouts, water shortages and now: a cholera epidemic waiting to happen.

The coordinator of the Israeli government’s activities in the Territories (COGAT), Major General Eitan Dangot, last week warned EU senior officials in Brussels as well as the ambassadors of the 28 EU member states that a “humanitarian catastrophe in gaza” is fast approaching, Maariv reports based on a telegram reviewing Dangot’s meetings.

Dangot, who was brought to Brussels by the local Israeli embassy, described the severe fuel shortages and the electricity production crisis in Gaza which have damaged “energy supply to the general population affecting both domestic consumption and public structures such as hospitals,” according to the telegram.

A senior source at the Israeli foreign affairs ministry told Ma’ariv that Dangot described the average daily Gaza blackouts as lasting 16 hours; the raw sewage floating in the streets because the sewer pumps haven’t been functioning in an orderly fashion due to the shortage in electricity; and the water supply shortages because of pumps being shutdown.

The general described the fuel shortage as reaching and touching every facet of life in Gaza, down to the operation of garbage trucks.

He blamed the severe energy crisis on the confrontation between the new rulers in Egypt and the Hamas government—supporter of the deposed regime—which resulted in the Egyptians’ uncompromising assault on the smuggling tunnels into Gaza that used to be the lifeline of the densely populated strip.

“Egypt sees Hamas as the enemy,” Dangot stated emphatically. This, he pointed out, has also led to Hamas avoiding new confrontation with Israel, since it can no longer rely on Egypt to replenish its lost assets in such a conflict.

General Dangot updated on the ways in which his department is cooperating on improving the situation with the Palestinian Authority, whose relationship with Hamas is also far from warm. Hamas “is not interested in recognizing the authority of the PA,” Dangot told the EU. For their part, the PA is refusing to sell Israeli-supplied fuel to Hamas as long as they haven’t paid what they owe for previous deliveries. Hamas, for their part, is refusing to pay the PA’s inflated prices, which have more than doubled recently.

And while the raw sewage continues to flood their streets and pour into the sea at the rate of 25,000 gallons a day, those pesky Gazans have been busy digging up terror tunnels into Israeli villages, with the aim of kidnapping Israeli civilians, who would be exchanged for Arab murderers of other Israeli civilians.

So Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon decided to halt the exporting of cement into Gaza, seeing as it was being used not so much to construct and rebuild homes, but as part of the war effort against the “Zionist entity.”

So now some 70,000 Gazan construction workers are out of work. So they can’t pay their electric bills, among other things.

It’s so hard to be a crazed political pariah these days.

Dangot says he recommended to Minister Ya’alon to approve some cement exports, primarily to international organizations operating in Gaza. In fact, UN secretary General Ban Ki-moon called up Ya’alon personally and asked for cement permits for the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration (UNRRA), which despite its generic-sounding name is only in the business of keeping Palestinians on the dole.

Ya’alon told Ban he’s be happy to, on two conditions: 1. Ban should come out publicly against the Hamas terror tunnels—which he did last weekend; and, 2. There should be a deal between Dangot and UN Middle East envoy Robert Serry to establish a special mechanism to guarantee that construction supplies not reach Hamas or the other terror organizations in Gaza for tunnel construction—which is happening in a few days, according to the Israeli foreign office.

Yori Yanover has been a working journalist since age 17, before he enlisted and worked for Ba'Machane Nachal. Since then he has worked for Israel Shelanu, the US supplement of Yedioth, JCN18.com, USAJewish.com, Lubavitch News Service, Arutz 7 (as DJ on the high seas), and the Grand Street News. He has published Dancing and Crying, a colorful and intimate portrait of the last two years in the life of the late Lubavitch Rebbe, (in Hebrew), and
two fun books in English: The Cabalist's Daughter: A Novel of Practical Messianic Redemption, and How Would God REALLY Vote.

21 COMMENTS

Let's see how long it takes for people to start blaming Israel. Egypt is correct, Hamas is most certainly an enemy. Israel has been fighting this enemy for many years and instead of getting support, gets chastised, slandered, sanctioned, and boycotted. None of the many challenges Israel faces is do to indifference and sometimes support towards Arab misbehavior by the international community. It's much easier to keep beating up on Israel than to make the Arabs accountable for their actions. There seems to be a quick fix answer as to why there has been no progress in the Israel, Palestinian issue. Settlements are the reasons for not negotiating an equitable resolution. Never mind the murder and mayhem that Israel is forced to live with everyday, and for the past sixty five years. This is hypocrisy at the highest level.

Instead of creating and working on their infra-structure,this is what happens when you divert funding for new sewer lines to make rockets, missiles and bombs to fire at Israel. And that is exactly what the Fakestinians did- again.

The first time, they took the all of the shinny, new, copper sewer pipes donated to them, and made lots of rockets and missiles and fired them into Israel. Then, they had raw sewage flood out an entire neighborhood, literally covering houses and people in their own excrement.

HaShem has a law by which HE runs all Creation. Midda Kinnegid Midda. Measure For Measure. A.K.A. "The Cosmic 2 x4".

It looks like this law has been applied to the PA. May they drown in it.

if Israel and Jews in the USA would ONLY MIND THEIR OWN BUSINESS and only care about keeping Jews safe in Israel and in the USA and elsewhere and NOT care about saving nor helping their SWORN ENEMIES…Israel would have PEACE NOT WAR and we would soon be safer…when you strengthen your enemies they have more children and double in population every ten years and they teach all their children to hate and kill Jews….so let's mind our own business and let the assorted Arabs kill each other (that's what they always have done) and let them drown in their sewage…IT IS NOT OUR JOB TO SAVE THEM NOR HELP THEM>>>>they will only laugh at us and try to kill us every chance they get…they will never thank us nor teach their children that Jews are good to them no….while we are helping them they will teach their children to hate and kill Jews….WE KNOW THIS…so why don't we just sit back and also take care of our own families and countries and Jews in POOR countries (plenty of POOR Jews in Israel) and NOT spend money nor time on our enemies the Palestinians!!! We must get them the heck out of Israel completely…and NOT give them a so called PALESTINIAN STATE>>>>this would be liking saying to a Palestinian family nearby…take two of my children and do what you want with them you own them now….how would that help us? Giving them big chunks of the tiny tiny (one of the tiniest countries IN THE WORLD)Israel (and we would have our enemies few feet away from our homes and cities to kill us easily and fast) is guaranteeing wars and trouble forever!!!

Israel needs to MOVE out FOREVER OUT OF ISRAEL (under penalty of life imprison…should be DEATH on the spot ! ) all the Palestinians…we need the death penalty for violent crimes (inc attempted murder as well as murder) and even assaults because they threw rocks etc hoping to kill but failed…so execute them….all rock throwers should at least be fingerprinted/dna registered/face computerize to be recognized by videocomputers…and deported…..life imprison if they are found in Israel again! Let's stopplaying around…. they will never take us serious if we never punish them or give them only slaps on the wrist (gentle slaps at that) that we now do….immediately all violence in Israel against Jews should be met with arrests and prison but also (esp if perp is dead like in suicide bombing) a block or few blocks in Jerusalem should be dearabed with all the arabs removed and deported FOREVER (take their fingerprints and dna and video computerize their faces)if they come back…life in prison…also 100 violent prisoners EXECUTED per any day that there is violent attack on Jews!!! so there will be LESS violent attacks if they see we are serious and DO IT !
We should HELP EGYPT or even SYRIA if they help Israel by getting Palestinians out of Israel….by executing Palestinians who try to harm Israel….such as the smugglers and kidnappers etc in the TUNNELS to Israel should be shot on sight by Syrians and Egyptians and we should REWARD them with our friendhship and help…also let then get rid of IRAN and Irans nuclear stuff. they can do it if we were their serious helpers ! They hate Iran too !

They destroy everything they touch. I still remember the taste of strawberries, fresh from the Gaza greenhouses. The beaches there would rival any in Hawaii, the land was clean, productive, and truly blessed. Look how quickly it's turned into a literal cesspool in their hands.

This how terrorists who hijack people's life take care of the land they hold to with terror and brutality and sub standard living. That is what happens when you hate the Jews, you fall free fall – the diseases will enter Israel and cause great harm

One of the most disgusting and badly written pieces I have ever had the misfortune to lay eyes upon.

Not only the editors of the "newspaper" should not have allowed such a badly written article to be published, but it is outright false.

There is no mention of the fact that the sewage plant came to a halt because of the continuing Israeli land and sea blockade which prevents Gazans from interacting with the outside world except through those "terrorist tunnels" which, far from being used to kidnap Israelis, are used to smuggle the food, fuel, medicine and other goods needed to survive. No mention of the fact that Israel pretty much forced Mubarak and now el-Sisi to comply with the U.S. and Israel's plans to destroy the Gaza-Rafah tunnels to cause the slow suffucation of the Palestinian people in Gaza.

Commentators on this site are simply disgusting, and seriously pathological. Emblematic of the brainwashing and state propaganda that you morons are subject to and swallow like happy pills. Congratulations. Your shameful actions will be your own demise. Israel is build on the resources that were stolen by you war criminals from the Palestinians.